Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Why the GOP can’t fire Trump

It comes as no surprise that Donald Trump has refused to apologize to Sen. John McCain and other veterans he insulted over the weekend. Why would he fold when he holds all the cards?

Trump, the billionaire real estate developer and TV personality, has the Republican Party over a barrel. His comments in Iowa about which veterans deserve to be called heroes shows how dangerous his candidacy is to the GOP brand and the party’s chances in November.

Trump, as you may have heard, was the chatter of the Family Leader candidate forum in Iowa on Saturday. He got so carried away with trying to belittle McCain that he wound up undermining the service of American military prisoners of war.

“He’s not a war hero. He is a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said. “I like people that weren’t captured, OK? I hate to tell you.”

Trump then seemed to reconsider, while still suggesting that prisoners of war weren’t quite deserving of being called heroes. “He was a war hero because he was captured. And I believe perhaps he’s a war hero.”

Perhaps? That’s like saying we only grudgingly honor American soldiers killed in action because if they were really good at their jobs, they would have survived. McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona and the 2008 GOP nominee for president, may be unpopular with conservatives but suggesting he’s only considered a war hero because he was unlucky enough to get captured denigrates the service of all former prisoners of war.

Other GOP candidates, who mostly muttered up their sleeves when Trump insulted millions of Mexican immigrants, were less timid in their tweets defending McCain. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Lindsey Graham from South Carolina both wrote on Twitter that Trump was unfit to be commander in chief. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal wrote: “After Donald Trump spends six years in a POW camp, he can weigh in on John McCain’s service.”

In Iowa, Gov. Terry Branstad, Sen. Joni Ernst and Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann all issued statements disagreeing with Trump and defending McCain’s service. Other GOP elected officials will no doubt follow suit — they care about maintaining good relations with veterans groups, regardless of how they may feel about McCain.

None of this is particularly bad news to Trump, however. He seems immune to criticism from other GOP candidates and party leaders. He rose in national polls after Republicans and some business associates castigated his remarks suggesting most illegal immigrants from Mexico are drug dealers and rapists.

Alienating himself from the Republican Party isn’t a problem for Trump because many of his supporters are already disaffected from politics and politicians. Criticism from the media and the likes of Graham and Branstad may help Trump muster support from anti-establishment voters even if his poll numbers end up taking a hit.

The dilemma Trump poses for the GOP presidential field is serious. Other GOP candidates, merely by standing on the same stage, will be associated with Trump’s remarks even if they openly disagree. That’s not fair, but that’s politics. The upcoming GOP debate, with its poll-driven criteria for candidate participation, will feature Trump at the expense of lesser-known candidates who have actually run for office or served as Republicans in the past.

Trump has indicated this cycle that he doesn’t intend to run as an independent or third-party candidate if he doesn’t win the GOP nomination. He knows that would help elect a Democrat in November. But if Republicans toss him over a cliff, that may be his way to cushion the landing. Republicans can’t afford to associate themselves with Trump but they also can’t risk driving him away.

Trump says he’s not a politician and he’s right. Politicians get worried when everybody’s criticizing them. The only thing that would worry Trump is if people stop talking about him. It doesn’t seem like that will happen any time soon.

Kathie Obradovich is a columnist for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at kobradov@dmreg.com.